Bag closure



April 1954 D. R. ZIMMERMAN- BAG CLOSURE Filed Aug. 5, 1952 u w. m

INVENTOR.

DONALD R. ZIMMERMAN BY A TTOHNEKS Patented Apr. 20, 1954 UNITED STATEJ]? ATENT I OFFICE BAGQCLOSURE Donald B. Zimmerman, Wheaten, 111., assignor to Marathon Corporation, Rothschild, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin.

This invention relates to new and useful im-: provements in devices for protecting the opening in packages, particularly bags, and-for facilitatingthe openingof and the accessibilityof the contents contained in such packages. 7 More par- 5 ticu1arly,it pertains to adeviceto be associated with the open ends of bags for facilitating the easy opening andidispensingeof the contents thereof.

In bags of this sort, especiallywhen-made of 10 paper or transparent material such as cel1o-.-. phane, there is a marked-tendency of the bag material to split or tear along thevedges at the open end of the bag. In'the'case of cellophane bags,v this tendency becomes. more serious with increasing age of the bag,1for"this material tends to become brittle withdrynessandf age. It is. therefore highly desirable-to haven means for facilitating the opening of thesebagsand'where possible to reinforce the open end.

Further, it is frequently'difiicult' to pour from an opened end of these bags'a fine grainedhomdgeneous contained product such as flour or sugar.

A substantial marketing "advantage maybe obtained from having associated with such a'nopen end a device whereby the pouring 'outjof =such a product is facilitated. 1

Also, with manypro'ducts it is essential-that the bag be sealed to prevent the passage oi 'airinto and "out of the bag. The .inventionreadilyh'g provides means for achieving this air-tight closure;

The invention'providesthese featur'esand ad vantages, and'in addition'other' advantages and features which will be readily 'apparen't 'from' the drawings and the followingdescription: thereof, in which the same reference-numeral is used to identify the-same or similarparty x Figure 1 is a plan View of the hag-"closure com prising the inventiom i 4 Figure-2isaperspective: view ofthe bag closure: of Figure'lin position :to'be inserted within the openingof a bag,"

Figurev 3 is" a 'perspectiveizview, partially cut away, -of the assembledabag:closurezi'of' Figural, Figure :4 is an enlargedcrosssectional view, partially cut" away taken alon'g therlineaad d of I Figure3,

Figure 15 is a perspective?view, -vpartiallyf cut" away, of abag particularly adaptedito high-speed assembly with the; invention; 1

Referring first'to Figure 'lj-it lS S6IIth2;tIth6*1 bag closure: comprises a rectangular: papersblai H! divided by scoreklineszintoi; arnumbfermfpane s Blankwlfl p'referablynis madeso'f relativelyirthintes flexible paper, although obviously other flexible sheet materials might be very satisfactorily sub stituted. Score linesl-l, l2 and 13 :divide' the blank It into a pair of outer panels Id and '15, a and a pair of inner-or intermediate-'panels-lfi and I! to the outer ends of whichpanels Hi and i5 are hingedly connected;- Innerpaneldfi and outer panel M are of slightlygreater length thanv inner panel ii and outer panel :l5 respectively;

and the width of the inner panels" is of slightly less dimension than the widthof outer panelsit I and except for slight tabs or shoulder-like r projections it on the edges-of inner-panel it adjacent score line H. The width of innerpanel ii, and of themajor portion of inner'panelrid is substantially equal to the Width of the opening in the bag which is to beclcsed;- Tabs 25 are hingedly connected alongscore lines 21 -to the-'5' side edges of panel-l5, andare'separated'from projections l8 by cut edges 22..- *Forreasons'later explained, score line l2 may be marked=bya dotted or broken line; The under face of blank id is coated with a heat-sealable adhesive cornposition, such as disclosedin Abrams-et a1. Pat-c ent 2,054,1'15, September-15,-1936;-and/cr'a-pres- A sure sensitive composition; -such"as disclosedin :1

Abrams et al. Patent 2,142,039; December:27, l938.-

To ready the blank 55 for assembly with the bag is (Figure 2), the two ends of the blank-=- arefolded upwardly about score line 12, and then folded downwardly respectively about score-lines I! and l3.- Tabs'zfi are-folded-along score lines-' 27 to lie between the bottom (Figure 1) adhesive surfaces of panels H and !5, as best illustratedw. in Figures 2 and 3. Thebaghere illustrated is W known'as an envelope type bag' and hasvery wide use in the packaging of candy, 'dried fruit and manyother articles. To assemble the thusformed bag closure with the bag l9, the end of the bag is first partially opened, such.-'as by squeezing the edges 29 tand zi; Theclosure -is then inserted into the open end of the bag with the bottom surface (Figurel) of tabs 26 in face to-face contact with the innersurfacewf fwallw 23 of bag 19 and the upper surface of tabs-=26 in face-to-face contact with the bottom adhesive surface of panel H. As seenin Figure-Zhlower edges 22 of projections 18 will meet-the open end of the bag, so that although the score line I13 T will be substantially coincident with the end of wall'23 of the bag, panels 16 a'ndiM wili protrude" r above the opening in,theibag andaboveithe end"; i of wall- 25, of the-bag in amount equal to thei distance between Elowere'dges 2210f projections: Bit and score linesl i. In addition, :outer -panels-I M and t and projections 58 will protrude beyond edges 2t and it of the bag by an amount equal to the difference in width dimension be tween panel I? and panels Hi and i5. This construction facilitates opening of the bag, since one side of the bag, represented now by score line I3, is lower than the effective other side of the bag represented by score line H. Also, the side edges of end panels it and 55, which protrude beyond the side margins of the bag, will be sealed together when the heat and/or pres sure is applied, thus reinforcing the edges of the bag to a very considerable extent. The method of this assembly will be readily apparent from an inspection of Figures 2, 3 and 4. When the bag closure has been thus inserted, outer panels l4 and Iii are brought into face-to-face contact with the outer faces of the bag, and the closure is then adhered to the bag by applying heat and/or pressure. I'he final assembled form of the bag closure and bag is illustrated in Figure 3.

Since the heatand/or pressure-sensitive adhesive is on what is now the inner face of panels l4, IE, IS and H and tabs 2%, these panels and tabs will be firmly adhered to the walls 23 and 24 of the bag is; panel 56 bein adhered to the inner face of wall 25; tabs 2% being adhered to the inner face of wall 23; panel ll ends being adhered to tabs and intermediate thereof being adhered to the inner face of wall 23; and panels 15 and It being adhered to the outer surfaces of walls 23 and 2d respectively. If the width of blank I6 is substantially equal to the width of the opening in bag iii, the 010- sure thus formed will be substantially air tight and leakproof. As will be readily understood from Figure 3, tabs 26 perform the double func tion of reinforcing the weak edges of bag it and of providing an air tight closure, this latter function being due to the fact that there is provided a continuous adhesive connection between the bag and the closure around the periphery of the bag opening. It will be obvious that, within the spirit of my invention and with achievement of my above purposes, tabs 26 may be folded to lie between the adherent-free upper surfaces of inner panels l6 and H, with the adherent surfaces of tabs 2% adhered to the adherent-free surface of inner panel H.

To open the bag after it is sealed as described above, the lips of the closed are spread and the closure is slit or otherwise torn along score line 12. This may be more easily done if the blank ill has previously been perforated along score line !2, although if this is done the feature of air tightness will depend upon extrusion of the adhesive at the time of scaling to seal the perforations, and consequently under certain conditions this feature may be lost.

Since for the tightest possible closure it is desirable that the width of inner panels l6 and it have substantially the same width as the inside width of the bag opening, it is obvious that there may be some difficulty in inserting the bag closure into the open end of the bag, particularly if it is intended that this operation be carried out by machine. It is possible to overcome this difficulty by cutting the bag as illustrated in Figure 5. One corner of the bag is cut away diagonally as at 25. The bags may then be carried by a conveyor from left to right in Figure 5, and the bag closure slid laterally into the bag from the right, the dimension of the out being equal to the height dimension of the panel ll.

It will readily be seen that the accordionor bellows-like fold presented by this invention might be extended to include one or more additional sets of folds (and thus of panels), but obvious substitutions such as this would not depart from the spirit of the invention.

It will be obvious that the bags and closures described herein might be constructed of various flexible materials such as paper, cellophane, polyethylene, rubber hydrochloride, metal foil and the like, and for the adhesive means described there might be substituted water-activated glues or other available means of adherence. It will be equally clear that within the spirit of my invention the tabs 26 might be connected to the side edges of inner panel I! instead of to the side edges of inner panel l6. While only one embodiment of the invention has been described it is to be understood that the invention is to be limited only as defined in the following claims.

I claim:

1. A bag closure comprising a flexible blank having an adhesive on one surface and cut and foldable into panels, including a pair of inner panels and a pair of outer panels, one of said inner panels having a shoulder-lilre projection along each side edge adjacent its outer end and having further projecting tabs hingedly con nected to its side edges inwardly of said projections, said one inner panel being of length greater than the other inner panel by the length of its shoulder-like projections, the inner panels being folded to have their adherent-free surfaces in face-to-face relation, the outer panels being folded each to have its adherent surface in faceto-face relation with the adherent surface of the adjacent inner panel, and the tabs being folded to lie between the other inner panel and the outer panel connected thereto, the closure being adaptable to close the open mouth of a bag with the inner panels inserted within said open mouth. to the point of contact of the shoulder-like projections with the mouth of the bag and their adherent surfaces in face-to-face relation with the inner walls of the bag, the tabs lying between the other inner panel and the bag wall with which it is in face-to-face relation, and the outer panels overlying the outer walls of said bag adjacent its mouth, the thus-positioned closure being adapted for adherence to seal the mouth of said bag.

2. A bag closure comprising a flexible blank having an adhesive on one surface and divided by cut and score lines into a pair of adjacent inner panels hingedly connected together along an end edge, a pair of outer panels each hingedly connected to the other end edge of one of said inner panels, and a pair of projecting tabs hingedly connected to the side edges of one of said inner panels adjacent the hinge connection between said inner panels, one of said inner panels having a shoulder-like projection along each side edge adjacent its outer end, the inner panel carrying said shoulder-like projections being of length greater than the other inner panel by the length of its shoulder-like projections, the inner panels being folded to have their adherent-free surfaces in face-to-face relation, the outer panels being folded each to have its adherent surface in face-to-face relation with the adherent surface of the adjacent inner panel, and the tabs being folded to lie between the inner panel to which they are hinged and the outer panel hinged to the other inner panel, the closure being adaptable to close the open mouth of a bag with the inner panels inserted within said open mouth to the point of contact of the shoulder-like projections with the mouth of the bag and with the adherent surfaces of the inner panels in face-toface relation with the inner walls of the bag, the tabs lying between the inner panel to which they are hinged and the bag wall with which the other inner panel is in face-to-face relation, the outer panels overlying the outer walls of said bag adjacent its mouth, the thus-positioned closure being adapted for adherence within the bag to seal the mouth thereof.

3. A bag closure comprising a flexible blank having an adhesive on one surface and divided by cut and fold lines into a pair of inner panels and a pair of outer panels, one inner panel having a shoulder-like projection along each side edge adjacent its outer end, the outer panels being of width equal to the width of said one inner panel across the region of its shoulder-like projections, the other inner panel being of the same width as said one inner panel absent its shoulderlike projections and of substantially the same width as the mouth opening of a bag to be closed, said one inner panel being greater in length than the other inner panel by the length of its shoulder-like projections, and a pair of tabs each hingedly connected to one side edge of said one inner panel inwardly of said projections, the closure being adaptable to close the open mouth of a bag with the inner panels folded to have their adherent-free surfaces in face-to-face relation and inserted within said mouth to where the shoulder-like projections prevent further insertion by contacting the mouth of the bag, said tabs folded inwardly to lie between said inner panels, and the outer panels overlying the outer walls of said bag, the thus-positioned closure being adapted for adherence in position to close the mouth of the bag.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,051,106 Rosen Aug. 18, 1936 2,188,039 Farmer Jan. 23, 1940 2,373,744 Coghill Apr. 1'7, 1945 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 320,289 Great Britain Oct. 10, 1929 511,103 Germany Oct. 25, 1930 123,671 Austria July 10, 1931 

